


An Understanding

by Clover_Punk



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Gen, I cannot believe how few fics there are about the understanding, Kinda a happy ending, M/M, Multi, Post-SiH episode 44, no beta we die like the skeleton from episode 1, the understanding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:11:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26020153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clover_Punk/pseuds/Clover_Punk
Summary: There are six people in the University who know the truth about the Understanding that was reached to force the Gray Duke into speeding up the the coalition with the Last University. They meet in secret, late at night, in a small storage room that used to be a classroom, far from the usual meeting hall. They do not tell anyone else.A series of vignettes following each member of the Understanding in the moments after a decision.
Relationships: Adaire Ducarte/Hella Varal, Adelaide Tristé/Hella Varal, Ephrim/Throndir (Friends at the Table), Gloria Lake/Victoria Solomon, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sunder Havelton & Benjamin
Kudos: 2





	An Understanding

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 1 year anniversary of the SiH finale! I have been working on this fic on and off for almost that entire year. I just really had a lot of feelings about the understanding (and their shitty name) and where they all ended up.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _…I think we just all have an Understanding…_ (SiH ep 44, The Second Spring Pt. 6, 45 m)

There are six people in the University who know the truth about the Understanding that was reached to force the Gray Duke into speeding up the the coalition with the Last University. They meet in secret, late at night, in a small storage room that used to be a classroom, far from the usual meeting hall. They do not tell anyone else.

…

Lord Ephrim, The Gifted, His Summer Son, Lord of the Coming Spring, Prophet of the Unwavering Flame, Former Silver Hand of Samothes has been one of the leaders of the Last University society since the beginning of that long cold winter. He is used to making hard choices, and he is used to them being as bad as shooting himself in the foot with Throndir’s gun. He knew as soon as he heard the plan that this would one day rank among those choices, and he couldn’t afford to lose another limb. But the University couldn’t afford to lose this deal with the Gray Duke, so they didn’t really have a choice.

It is a long walk back to Ephrim’s room from the abandoned classroom/storage space where the group had met. The typical council hall is at the lowest level of his tower. But Sunder Havelton had called the meeting, and she had suggested it not be held in the usual space. Ephrim had known before he left what that meant. He had not been surprised to see only a small group waiting when he arrived.

On his walk back, Ephrim checks off the names that were missing in his head.

Fero would have caused a scene if he knew, and Lem would have told Emmanuel and Fero and then the whole campus would know. But it wouldn’t be unheard of to have a meeting without Lem, and Fero skipped enough of them anyway to make it plausible.

Red Jack would have shut it down immediately and Throndir would’ve sided with him. It wouldn’t do to invite one of them and not the other with as close as they had been since returning, better to let them have their space and their peace.

Rosana and Hadrian would never go along with something so fundamentally against their son’s wishes. It would be harder to explain why they weren’t there, but clearly Sunder had handpicked the people who would go along with her plan. Those who would do what needed to be done. What still needs to be done.

Ephrim is glad that he had never taken to the arcane as well as he did to the Divine Fire. He believes in this plan, it is the best plan available to them, but he isn’t sure if he could do it himself.

It is late, as he walks back to his tower, but there are still a few people out and about. Several windows are lit with the soft glow of candlelight, and a few with the harsher glow of miniature suns. A young couple holding tight to each other ride a giant beetle down the street he is walking on and Ephrim steps to the side.

Then he sighs, and his face hardens with resolve. He loves his friends dearly, and he aches for how this will hurt so many of them once they find out. But these are his people. He knows the family that lives across the street from where he is now. The matriarch had originally come from Velas, bringing two young children with her. She had married a halfling farmer from Rosemarrow three years ago, with a son of their own. They both worked in the farms most days now, bringing plenty of experience from their past lives. Ephrim had seen them often in the fields back before the Rhizome, and he and Throndir had visited them for dinner just the other week. Their oldest will be an adult soon, he should ask Highwater help him find a gift. If they all lived long enough.

Everything Ephrim had done for the last 10 years had been for these people – for this place. Every difficult choice he had made had been to ensure that this society survived for a little longer. And not everyone was going to be happy about it. Certainly, when people found out what they had done, there would be consequences.

But he knows that to lead means he must make hard choices. So Ephrim understands.

…

Corsica Neue, Sovereigness of the Unstill, The Cavalier Queen of Death, Baroness of Broken Branches and Undelivered Resignations, and Military Leader of the society that has been build at the former Last University does not have time for doubt. As soon as the others reach an agreement her thoughts shift from what the plan is and how it will be achieved to what she will do if it fails.

If Ephrim’s job at the Last University has been to keep people calm and make sure they get what they need, Corsica’s is to prepare of the inevitability of conflict. There are so many ways this could go wrong. If the Gray Duke doesn’t fall for their trick, they have destroyed any hope of the coalition being finalized at all. If Benjamin catches on before the plan has been put into motion, he will make sure everyone knows is it not a real threat. If Galenica happens to witness the event they just use it as an excuse to trigger reconfiguration and then this all would have been for nothing.

Corsica does not consider herself paranoid – she would not be where she is today without taking a good number of risks and standing back up when she falls down – but she also has learned how to be prepared for all possible outcomes.

She waits her turn to leave the old classroom but does not return immediately to her rooms. Instead, she starts to make her way to the barracks where many of the Unstill have been staying. No matter what happens because of all this, she will make sure her people are prepared for anything.

Most of the Unstill are asleep when Corsica arrives, and many of rest are out making rounds. After the formation of the Rhizome the barracks had been set up in a tower on the very edge of the Last University and Corsica starts climbing all the way to the top. Corsica technically has her own office in the tower where her rooms and the main council hall are, but she has also set up a mini office in the barracks as well.

There are a few younger folks in the break room playing cards, but Corsica doesn’t see a reason to disturb them. She will lay out a few plans first and then distribute them in the morning.

As she lays out their next steps, Corsica does not wonder if they made the right choice or if there were any alternatives to the plan that Sunder had proposed. She does wonder how the others are taking it. Sunder had been careful to only invite those she thought would be able to handle it. There would be no getting around Ephrim’s involvement, but he could be trusted to do what was necessary. No one too close to Benjamin who might be more loyal to him than the plan. Sunder no longer trusted Uklan Tel, but at the end of the day what she needed were strategists, not magicians.

Corsica remembers when Sunder first approached her; she wouldn’t share any details, but she wanted to know if Corsica would be willing to back any plan that could speed up the alliance with the Gray Duke. It was all taking too long, she had said, and at this rate they would not be prepared for whatever happened. Corsica had been on board immediately.

She spends the rest of the night finalizing plans; a last defense against the Gray Dukes forces if they catch the trick or a rapid strike to take them out if Benjamin manages to stop Sunder. If this fails, they will lose the Gray Duke, but she will do anything to secure the continuation of the Last University.

Corsica has no need for regret. She already understood.

…

Hella Varal, Queen-Killer, Death's Servant, does not go straight home after the plan is set. Instead, she squeezes Adaire’s hand as her girlfriend walks back to make sure Rix and Rowe are sleep and wanders out toward the edge of town. She doesn’t know if she’ll be able to get into Adularia, and this definitely is not a conversation she wants overheard.

Finding a suitable spot, Hella lays down on the ground. This part of the branch is covered in a tall soft grass that might be an effective hiding spot for someone smaller, like Fero or even Adelaide. Hella closes her eyes and pictures one of the loves of her life is laying next to her. It is a silly thought and she smiles a bit; even in Aubade, Adelaide had never been one for laying in the grass.

“I have lain in grass before. Even I was a child once.”

Hella opens her eyes to see Adelaide standing above her. She reaches a hand down to help Hella up and, when she excepts, pulls Hella into a brief kiss. Now standing again, Hella can see she is once again in Adularia, the realm of Death. Her girlfriend’s home is more extensive and beautiful each time she visits, but that is not why she is here tonight.

“Adelaide,” Hella says when they break apart, still holding tightly to each other’s hands, “I need your advice on something.”

Adelaide guides Hella to a small table and chairs and maneuvers her into a seat, continuing to hold her hands across the table. “Is this a situation where I need to talk you out of doing something dangerous, or into something to doing something worthwhile?”

Hella forgets sometimes that Adelaide isn’t in her head anymore. Not here at least. Sometimes it seems like her girlfriend can still read her thoughts, but then doesn’t seem to know everything Hella is thinking. Maybe she just likes to make Hella say it aloud.

“There was a meeting. A smaller council with an ingenious plan to solve a major problem.”

“That sounds like a good thing?” Adelaide tilts her head slightly and smiles in that way that makes it seem like she knows something.

“It’s a risky plan. If people found out what we’re doing –” Hella pauses. She lets her head drop and stares at their intwined hands. “It could be bad. And it would hurt someone I care for.”

“And what did Adaire say?” Adelaide asks gently.

“She was also at the meeting. She was very on board with the plan.” Hella hopes that it doesn’t come across as quiet as bitter as it sounded to her ears.

“The way you say that makes me think you were not.”

“I –” No such luck then. “I believe in extreme solutions. But I’ll admit I was surprised to even be invited.”

“Why is that?” Adelaide has started running her thumb over the back of Hella’s hand. Her long nail just barely grazes Hella’s skin and part of her brain wants to shiver, but she doesn’t.

“There is not much about the plan itself that relies on me to do anything. I just stood at the side and watched most of the meeting. I think they just wanted me there as another voice that wouldn’t talk them out of it.”

“Is that such a bad thing?”

“No. I suppose not.” Hella answers slowly. “At least, I could supervise. Wow, that sounds terrible. But by being in that room I could help them make sure it was the best idea it could be. I could make sure they weren’t going too far. Because it’s the best plan we’ve got.”

Adelaide laughs just a bit. In that way she does when something isn’t actually funny but there is no better response. Hella used to hate it. “It sounds like you’ve already made up your mind. Sometimes choosing not to act is also an action, Hella.”

“Right.” It’s not the answer Hella was hoping for. She wanted something definitive. Reassurance that they had done the right thing. But she already knows.

When there is no right thing, you work with what you’ve got. That is something Hella understands.

…

Adaire Ducarte does not have a fancy title that declares her a leader in her community, but she is. She has created several schools since the second spring for bug riding, map making, and (in a combined effort with Corsica) stealth and skullduggery. It is the last of these that places her in a situation to be involved with a secret plot. It is also the skill she most wishes she could dissuade her children from learning.

Rix and Rowe may not be _her children_ in the most technical sense, but they are _hers_ in the same way she is _theirs_. There are many things that she wants her children to learn from her but creating a false flag to trick speed a would-be enemy into an alliance is not one of them.

Adaire separates from Hella as they leave the meeting, her girlfriend squeezing her hand and walking off towards the edge of town. She clearly wants some privacy and it’s late enough that Adaire should go make sure the kids are in bed. It is not a long walk to the small cottage where they have all been living. It is barely large enough for the four of them and Barbello, just the main space and two small rooms for sleeping. Before the second spring, the house had just been Adaire’s. She had convinced Rix and Rowe to stay there while they had gone off to the Tower, and they have yet to find a reason to leave for long. Hella had moved in after their return from their meeting with the Ordenans, once the second spring had changed the world.

Barbello greets her at the door when she arrives, his tail wagging happily. Rix and Rowe are nowhere to be seen, but she is not foolish enough to believe that means they are asleep. She is proven correct moments later as she walks past her and Hella’s door and hears the soft whispering of children definitely not sleeping.

“I thought I told you two to be in bed by the time I got home?” Adaire opens the door to find Rix and Roe standing on the bed and peeking out the window above the headboard.

“We are in bed.” Comes Rix’s reply, exactly as snarky as Adaire expects from her. But Adaire remembers what she was like as a teenager and decides to let it slide.

“Your own beds, in your own room, which you have, right across the hall.” Adaire rolls her eyes as they both climb down from the bed.

“We were watching for you.” Rowe says.

“Well now I am back, and Hella will be back soon, so you can go to bed.”

Adaire ushers both of them out the door and back to their own room.

“So, will you tell us what the meeting was about that that you both had to go to in the middle of the night?” Rix says as she climbs into her own bed.

“It was just planning. A strategy meeting.” Adaire doesn’t lie to her kids, but she doesn’t have to tell the whole truth. Rix clearly isn’t buying it.

“Strategy for what?”

“I’m not telling you anything else tonight. You may not like to believe it, but I’m better at this than you two.”

Rowe glances over at his sister, and she looks like she’s about to push back before she just shrugs and pulls her blanket higher.

“Fine. I’ll get it out of Hella later.”

“You’re welcome to try.” Adaire says, closing the door behind her. “Goodnight.”

Adaire hopes that they will never need to be part of a decision like the one she helped make tonight. She hopes that they will make better choices than she did. Mostly, she hopes that the world will not require as much of from children as it did from her.

Adaire has been so many people in her life. Right now, she has chosen to be a mother and teacher and a girlfriend, but she will always be the person who is willing to break something to even the scales. Adaire will do what needs to be done and step in now before the Gray Duke can make life worse for her family.

She knows his coalition will make their lives better. So Adaire understands.

…

Lancer Victoria Solomon has been working with Gloria Lake for longer than she would care to admit and since the beginning, they have had one rule. Even before they were together in the way they are now; Victoria and Gloria did not keep secrets from each other. They both know it makes their work much more difficult if one of them withholds information, and they take that knowledge into their relationship as well.

Victoria Solomon is among the last to leave the meeting, mostly because she is already used to being up all night without sleep. Sure, she _can_ sleep, but ever since she joined the Lance she doesn’t need to, and she usually finds herself working early into the morning.

This morning, she finds herself in a rush to get home.

Victoria is not all that concerned about the plan itself. It was not a hard decision for Victoria to make, in fact, it was not really even a decision at all for Victoria. The plan to trick the Gray Duke into joining the coalition is likely to work, but it is a bit more subtle and underhanded than she is used to. She was a member of the Golden Lance, dedicated to bringing justice to those who hide in the shadows, to shed light on those in darkness. The Gray Duke is a threat to the Last University, and in that way, it would be easiest to simply take him out.

Victoria is not a young woman, though she certainly looks younger than she is. In her time, she has learned that there are two ways to convince someone to do what you want. A bribe, or a threat. When the carrot is taking too long, she’ll always be there to hit them with the stick. Or shoot them with her fancy gun, whatever works.

But Victoria has been around long enough to know that sometimes the easiest plan is not always the best. Sometimes the best plan is not the most Just either.

As she finally walks home, she wonders if Gloria will see this the same way. Gloria had always been the more skeptical of the two of them, but also the more objective and she tends to ask a lot more questions before shooting. She opens the door quietly. They both keep such odd hours and still travel enough that she doesn’t want to disturb her partner if she has found a moment of rest.

Walking into the back bedroom, Victoria finds Gloria sitting up in bed with a book.

“Hi.” She says, sitting down next to Gloria and placing a kiss on her forehead.

“Welcome back.” Gloria responds. Her eyes flit up from the page to meet Victoria’s for only a moment before she smiles and goes back to her book. She doesn’t ask where Victoria has been.

“I had a late meeting.” Victoria supplies before turning her attention to the book. “What are you reading?”

“Throndir lent it to me from his new library. That archivist boy wrote a book.”

“Lem King? The rude bard?” Victoria shuffles under the covers, not bothering to change clothes beyond pulling off her boots and pants.

“No, Devar. I don’t know if you’ve met him. It’s an interesting book so far.”

“Hmm. Alright.”

Victoria will tell her partner about the decision; but not tonight. They have both acquired plenty of information without each other before and sometimes it isn’t efficient to share everything immediately. She wants to take her time and process this first, maybe attempt to get some rest. 

She falls into something of a trance then, thinking of the Gray Duke and their deceitful plan. For now, she believes this is the right thing. After all, Victoria made a promise when she joined the lance to always bring justice and light to those in the shadows.

If that sometimes means going into the dark herself, that’s something Victoria has always understood.

…

Sunder Havelton, former Dean of Arcane Acquisitions of the Last University, had not been granted her name for being kind and gentle. She earned the name Sunder because she specialized in destroying things, breaking them into pieces. It is ironic now that she will be borrowing Benjamin’s new technique to bring adversaries together. 

She prefers to think of it that way; she is bringing people together by showing them that they have a common threat. That sounds like a use for Affective magic that Benjamin might not disapprove of.

Sunder is the last to leave the classroom turned storage space where she had called the meeting. She lingers, pushing storage crates and shelves back into place with magic. Hella and Corsica had moved a few to make room for everyone but she had ushered them away before they could put anything back. She wants the time to think.

Sunder has no delusions that Benjamin will like this plan. She has not always liked Benjamin, but he was a good kid and he certainly has a lot of skill for the short years he has been studying magic. But he has no idea what it is like to live through the end of the world, and what people must resort to in order to make it.

Sunder remembers the first time she met Ben’s father, Hadrian, over a decade ago. He had been entirely focused and dedicated to his task, although now that she thinks back on it, she cannot remember what it was. She had been studying the fallen tower, the tower of Samot, with Uklan Tel. They were attempting to map it. Hadrian had been so different then, more devout, but also more closed off. She never would’ve guessed that man had a wife and son. She never would’ve guessed he had any life outside of his god – and when they first met, he didn’t even remember his god’s name.

Then again, she never would’ve predicted then that Uklan Tel would be stupid enough to betray them, and she never would’ve thought anything like Affective magic could exist, let alone that she would be using it. Affective magic is everything she had learned to avoid when she first learned magic so many years ago. It is wild and unpredictable, it depends to much on what you are thinking and feeling, and if you mess up it is far too easy to accidentally make a brain when you wanted spaghetti.

The world has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Affective Magic is not something that could have existed at all in the old Hieron, pre-Rhizome. For all that she had qualms about its unpredictability and sentiment, Sunder had to admit that Benjamin had done a good job with this one. Perhaps there was a future for the Rhizome if it was filled with people like Benjamin. Smart young people who have not yet been cut down by the world. Certainly she or Fantasmo/Arrell could never have done anything like this.

Once things are put back, Sunder stops for a moment before leaving. There is no point in waiting, in putting this off, so Sunder will do it this morning. She walks home. She closes the door behind her. She puts up as many wards as she can to hide what she is about to do. She rests for just long enough to ensure she has enough magic to pull this off.

Then, Sunder reaches into the bag and tries not to let her thoughts be distracted as she starts to fake reconfiguration. She does not think about what Benjamin’s reaction will be when he figures out what she has done.

Sunder knows he will figure it out. She only hopes that someday, Benjamin will understand.

…

They did not tell anyone else. They did not make any mistakes. Benjamin reaches into a magic void and feels a hand. Six pairs of eyes glance up and recall a seventh person in the room who definitely will not be Understanding. And seven people know what they’ve done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr @ Clover-Punk where I write a lot of Friends at the Table Meta.


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